The Extreme Forms Of Human Violence

I have been unable to deliberate on the appropriate alternative method for this particular dilemma. When it comes to the topic of torture, the popular attitude is that it is sometimes required. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of ethics and efficiency. Whereas some are convinced that it is an effective policy, others maintain that it is not successful practice. To further support the stance that the torture policy is not necessary effective, Army Col. Stuart Herrington inserted, in his experience, “nine out of ten people can be persuaded to talk with no 'stress methods' at all, let alone cruel and unusual ones.”

The prisoners in Abu Ghraib subjected to the torture of the 800th MP Brigade were so treated initially because of perceived differences. In social psychology, it is a natural behavior to attribute bad feelings towards someone that is believed to be different. The MPs were thousands of miles away from home running a prison in a country some believed was planning to hurt American and her allies using weapons of mass destruction. A study notes that, in 2004, the average American saw the Arabs as “…not especially sincere, honest, friendly, or warm.” The MPs casted these Arabs in an outgroup and their prejudices against the

Bloche talks about how advanced interrogation and torture techniques have emerged to adapt to specific situations; and that many people believe that torture doesn’t help anything because people will say anything to get out of such tortures (Bloche 115). The article states that nothing can force someone to tell the truth; however, through harsh methods of abuse, you can instill a sense of hopelessness in the person being interrogated (Bloche

The War on Terror has produced several different viewpoints on the utilization of torture and its effectiveness as a means to elicit information. A main argument has been supplied that torture is ineffective in its purpose to gather information from the victim. The usefulness of torture has been questioned because prisoners might use false information to elude their torturers, which has occurred in previous cases of torture. It has also been supposed that torture is necessary in order to use the information to save many lives. Torture has been compared to civil disobedience. In addition, the argument has been raised that torture is immoral and inhumane. Lastly, Some say that the acts are not even regarded as torture.

In a study done by the Department of Phycology at the University of Montana, study claims that “people's views of torture are often negative. However,

The torture has been used as one of the ways to obtain decisive information from people. The military and intelligence agency paid more attention to psychiatric research than the medical profession. They thought that it would be very effective if they can use psychological factors for interrogation. This technique was secretly developed by the intelligence agencies such as CIA and KGB, but little was known about it.

The United States has been, and may again be, under terrorist threat and attacks or other similar incidents. Torture can be used to prevent these terrible incidents and save the lives of many people. Torture in the United States has been a debatable subject for many years now but after resent tragedies, the idea of torture of many American citizens has changed. It has also been debated over more after the attacks on September 9, 2001 than any other time in American history. Many fight the legalization of torture for moral and civil reasons but the truth is that torture is a lesser evil that can be used for a greater good.

That is why I found Stjepan Mestrovic’s article on the torture at Abu Ghraib to be a reliable source of information. Rather than design an experiment, Mestrovic interviewed soldiers from the Abu Ghraib incident. He found that the military system at the time was created to protect high ranked officials at the expense of lower ranked soldiers: “the military deliberately trains its soldiers to behave like abusive and killing machines, and when that abuse is exposed, it just as deliberately throws accused soldiers into a machinelike legal process designed to produce convictions and scapegoats” (Mestrovic). This argument is backed by the Levin-McCain Report in 2008, which found that soldiers were intentionally ordered to torture and abuse prisoners, and in fact did not act sadistically on their own (Mestrovic). Although Mestrovic’s work comes to the same conclusions as Milgram and Zimbardo, the conformity to authority figures came was forced because of their military system that protected high ranking officials rather than as a result of the banality of

In the Provision of Mental Health Services at the Detention Hospital in Guantanamo Bay article, it covers the treatment of detainees and the use of mental health officials in the military setting. The American Psychological Association questions whether it is ethical for psychologists to participate in nontraditional clinical activities. The detainees of Guantanamo Bay are sent to officials through a referral process and are provided with multiple psychological and psychiatric therapies. The purpose of this study, was to address the situation at Guantanamo Bay and show that detainees is treated with the best possible care. The treatment of detainees are an important thing, because these individuals are humans and have rights, despite what they are accused of participating in. In my opinion, I think that it is ethical for psychologists and psychiatrist to work in this nontraditional setting, as long their motives are to the detainee and not the towards the agenda of the military. One thing that was mentioned multiple times in the article was that the mental health officials did not partake in any of the interrogation settings and if a detainee was unfit to be interrogated then they were not interviewed, and I think this concept is for the best. The only problem that I do have with this program is not knowing how much oversight that the military has over the officials and their care, and if it is really possible to keep these two aspects separately. One way that detainees are

The 542-page report, which examines the involvement of the nation’s psychologists and their largest professional organization, the American Psychological Association, with the harsh interrogation programs of the Bush era, raises repeated questions about the collaboration between psychologists and officials at both the C.I.A. and the

Although this paper will focus on the significant number of false confessions that result from torture, we must note that false confessions do not account for every case of violently extracted information; there exist cases where people reveal all intelligence they possess to interrogators when confronted with excruciating pain.

In the United States, one of the major methods in obtaining crucial information has been through the use of Guantanamo Bay. While many have condemned of the torture that is believed to occur there, not only does Guantanamo Bay comply with national and international standards, but it also complies with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions (Meese 1) which states

The practice of torture by United States officials has become one of the most controversial elements of military history. The debate of its use in gathering intelligence has been particularly prevalent since the Bush administration. Most recently, a detailed and graphic scene of torture was presented in the movie Zero Dark Thirty. Proponents for the use of torture state that it is necessary for intelligence gathering and that ethics should be waved aside. Opponents argue that it is not becoming of American practices and it is not a reliable source for intelligence gathering. The public debates on this issue have forced policy makers and military officials to look at whether or not torture, particularly waterboarding, should be legal. The

The notion of “authorization” as permitting the existence of torture is apparent in the fact that though an individual may “theoretically, . . . [have] a choice” to refrain from such activity, “given the situational context . . . the concept of choice is not even present”; disobedience to the dictates of authority means “punishment, disgrace, humiliation, expulsion, or even death” (196). Therefore, one is freed from moral unease by the fact that he may feel trapped and unable to act against his superiors, as retaliation would be imminent. In some instances, as was demonstrated by

Does a picture say more than a video? A writer both gains and loses leverage over the message of feeling he or she is trying to convey. Most humans would argue different things. Some would say they conceive more from a picture because of their ability to use their imagination and challenge themselves to a greater level. Others would argue that they appreciate more from a video because they are left without any questions about what is happening during that moment in time because of the visual confirmation. In Edward Said’s essay States, Said uses photos that add feeling and depth to portray the message of stereotyped Palestinians. The quote from States explains how photos can be very significant in some cases, “Identity- who we are, where we come from, what we are- is difficult to maintain in exile. Most other people take their identity for granted. Not the Palestinian, who is required to show proofs of identity more or less constantly. It is not only that we are regarded as terrorists, but that our existence as native Arab inhabitants of Palestine, with primordial rights there (and not elsewhere), is either denied or challenged” (Said 546). As discussed above, in some cases, photos can be more necessary than text. In States there is an image of an unknown boy at a Gaza refugee camp wearing a Grease shirt (Said, 552). This image communicates what might take many pages of description.